Xi, who also heads the Central Military Commission, made the remarks while interacting with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops stationed in Xinjiang.

“All forms of terrorism should be rooted out in an early phase, while decisive action must be taken to stop terrorists gaining momentum,” he said.

Three people were confirmed dead and 79 others were injured, including four seriously injured, in the terrorist attack at a railway station in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang on Wednesday evening.

In a separate meeting with officials from the PLA and China’s armed police forces in Xinjiang on Tuesday, Xi said the “long-term stability” of the autonomous region is “vital” to China’s reform and stability, as well as to national unity.

The Chinese President also said there was need to raise awareness of the Xinjiang separatist forces and noted that the anti-separatism battle in Xinjiang is “long-drawn out, complicated and acute”.

More than 100 people have died in the violence-beset Xinjiang in the past year.

57 founding members, many of them prominent US allies, will sign into creation the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Monday, the first major global financial instrument independent from the Bretton Woods system.

Representatives of the countries will meet in Beijing on Monday to sign an agreement of the bank, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. All the five BRICS countries are also joining the new infrastructure investment bank.

The agreement on the $100 billion AIIB will then have to be ratified by the parliaments of the founding members, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing in Beijing.

The AIIB is also the first major multilateral development bank in a generation that provides an avenue for China to strengthen its presence in the world’s fastest-growing region.